December 23, 2008

Everything's For Sale

This is an example of shibari - both an old Japanese art (dating to the Edo period) of rope bondage and a popular modern American sexual kink - that requires much practice to become even mediocre at:

The asymmetry and the simplicity of the knots are key elements of the Japanese style.

This is a "shibari shift dress" sold by Saks Fifth Avenue:It requires $1,495, plus shipping and tax. It looks like a five-year-old applied black duct tape to it and is a complete travesty of the beauty of shibari. The lines do nothing to enhance or contrast with the body's shape. Rather than being interestingly asymmetrical, the design is random and ugly. The whole point of it is shock value and to cash in on a trend.

(Via Matisse, who thinks the dress is cute, so there's no accounting for taste.)